Adrift | An AP Investigation

ADRIFT BELLE GARDEN, Tobago (AP) –Around 6:30 a.m.

ADRIFT BELLE GARDEN，多巴哥（美联社）——上午 6:30 左右

on May 28, 2021, a couple of miles from Belle Garden Beach on the Caribbean island of Tobago, a narrow white-and-blue boat drifted onto the horizon.

2021 年 5 月 28 日，在距离加勒比海多巴哥岛贝尔花园海滩几英里的地方，一艘狭窄的蓝白相间的小船漂到了地平线上。

As it wobbled back and forth, fish gathered, feeding on the barnacles that had grown below the surface.

当它来回摇晃时，鱼聚集在一起，以生长在水面以下的藤壶为食。

From a distance, it seemed no one was aboard.

从远处看，船上似乎没有人。

But as fishermen approached, they smelled death.

但当渔民靠近时，他们闻到了死亡的味道。

Inside were the decomposing bodies of more than a dozen Black men.

里面有十几具黑人的腐烂尸体。

No one knew where they were from, what brought them there, why they were aboard — and how or why they died.

没有人知道他们来自哪里、是什么把他们带到这里、为什么他们在船上——以及他们是如何或为何死亡的。

No one knew their names.

没有人知道他们的名字。

For nearly two years, The Associated Press assembled puzzle pieces from across three continents to uncover the story of this boat — and the people it carried from hope to death.

近两年来，美联社收集了来自三大洲的拼图，以揭开这艘船的故事以及它所载着的人们从希望到死亡的故事。

The vessel that reached Tobago was registered in Mauritania, a large and mostly deserted country in northwest Africa nearly 3,000 miles (4,800 km) away.

抵达多巴哥的船只在毛里塔尼亚注册，毛里塔尼亚是非洲西北部一个幅员辽阔且大部分荒芜的国家，距该国近 3,000 英里（4,800 公里）。

Evidence found on the boat — and its style and color as a typical Mauritanian “pirogue”— suggested the dead were likely African migrants who were trying to reach Europe but got lost in the Atlantic.

在这艘船上发现的证据——以及它的风格和颜色与典型的毛里塔尼亚“独木舟”的风格和颜色表明，死者很可能是试图到达欧洲但在大西洋中迷路的非洲移民。

In 2021, at least seven boats appearing to be from northwest Africa washed up in the Caribbean and in Brazil.

2021 年，至少有 7 艘疑似来自非洲西北部的船只在加勒比海和巴西被冲毁。

All carried dead bodies.

所有人都抬着尸体。

These “ghost boats” — and likely many others that have vanished — are in part an unintended result of years of efforts and billions of dollars spent by Europe to stop crossings on the Mediterranean Sea.

这些“幽灵船”以及可能消失的许多其他船只，部分是欧洲多年来为阻止地中海过境而付出的努力和花费数十亿美元的意外结果。

That crackdown, along with other factors such as economic disruption from the pandemic, pushed migrants to return to the far longer, more obscure and more dangerous Atlantic route to Europe from northwest Africa via the Canaries instead.

这次镇压，再加上疫情造成的经济破坏等其他因素，迫使移民返回更长、更隐蔽、更危险的大西洋航线，从西北部非洲经加那利群岛到达欧洲。

Arrivals on the Atlantic route jumped from 2,687 in 2019 to more than 22,000 two years later, according to Spain’s Interior Ministry.

据西班牙内政部称，乘坐大西洋航线的旅客从 2019 年的 2,687 人次跃升至两年后的 22,000 多人。

But for those to arrive, many more must have departed, said Pedro Vélez, an oceanographer at the Spanish Institute of Oceanography.

西班牙海洋研究所的海洋学家佩德罗·贝莱斯说，但对于那些到达的人来说，肯定有更多的人离开了。

Vélez wasn’t surprised to learn of migrant boats appearing in the Caribbean – that is where floating devices dropped by scientists on the West African coast naturally drift.

得知加勒比海地区出现移民船时，贝莱斯并不感到惊讶——科学家在西非海岸投放的漂浮装置就是在那里自然漂流的。

“The sea conditions there are extremely harsh,” he said.

“那里的海洋条件极其恶劣，”他说。

“Extremely harsh.”

– 极其严厉。 –

In 2021, at least 1,109 people died or disappeared trying to reach the Canaries, according to the International Organization for Migration, the deadliest on record.

据国际移民组织称，2021 年，至少有 1,109 人在前往加那利群岛的途中死亡或失踪，这是有记录以来死亡人数最多的一次。

But that’s likely a fraction of the real death toll.

但这可能只是实际死亡人数的一小部分。

The men in the Tobago boat, for example, are not included in this number.

例如，多巴哥船上的人员不包括在这个数字中。

Other estimates are higher.

其他估计更高。

Caminando Fronteras, a Spanish migrants’ rights organization, recorded more than 4,000 dead or missing on the Atlantic route in 2021, with at least 20 boats vanishing after departing from Mauritania.

西班牙移民权利组织 Caminando Fronteras 记录，2021 年大西洋航线上有 4,000 多人死亡或失踪，至少有 20 艘船只在从毛里塔尼亚出发后失踪。

These migrants are as invisible in death as they were in life.

这些移民在死后和生前一样是隐形的。

But even ghosts have families.

但即使是鬼魂也有家人。

The AP investigation included interviews with dozens of relatives and friends, officials and forensic experts, as well as police documents and DNA testing.

美联社的调查包括采访数十名亲友、官员和法医专家，以及警方文件和 DNA 测试。

It found that 43 young men from Mauritania, Mali, Senegal and possibly other West African nations boarded the boat.

结果发现，有 43 名来自毛里塔尼亚、马里、塞内加尔以及可能其他西非国家的年轻人登上了这艘船。

AP has identified 33 of them by name.

美联社已确认了其中 33 人的姓名。

They departed the Mauritanian port city of Nouadhibou in the middle of the night between Jan.

他们于 1 月 1 日至 20 日之间的半夜离开毛里塔尼亚港口城市努瓦迪布。

12 and 13, 2021.

2021 年 12 日和 13 日。

Clothing and DNA testing confirmed the identity of one of the bodies, bringing closure to one family and opening the way for others to seek the same.

服装和 DNA 测试证实了其中一具尸体的身份，为一个家庭带来了终结，也为其他人寻找同样的家庭开辟了道路。

The lack of political will and global resources to identify dead and disappeared migrants mean such resolutions, even partial ones, are rare.

由于缺乏政治意愿和全球资源来识别死亡和失踪移民，这意味着此类解决方案，即使是部分解决方案，也很少见。

Each year, thousands of families wonder about the fate of loved ones who left their homes for Europe.

每年，成千上万的家庭都想知道离开家园前往欧洲的亲人的命运。

This is the story of one boat and the people it carried from hope to death.

这是一艘船和它载着的人们从希望到死亡的故事。

The Discovery On the morning of May 28, 2021, Lance Biggart got a call from one of his fellow fishermen.

发现 2021 年 5 月 28 日早上，兰斯·比格特 (Lance Biggart) 接到一位渔民同事的电话。

A strange boat had appeared.

一艘奇怪的船出现了。

The 49-year-old Tobago native quickly reached his colleagues aboard his small but speedy boat, the Big Thunder.

这位 49 岁的多巴哥人很快就乘坐他的小而快的船“大雷霆”到达了他的同事们身边。

Dozens of fishermen joined him at the scene, filming the pirogue with their smartphones.

数十名渔民和他一起来到现场，用智能手机拍摄独木舟。

Some continued fishing shiny mahi-mahi that had gathered around the corpses, life circling around death.

有些人继续捕捞聚集在尸体周围的闪亮鲯鳅鱼，生命围绕着死亡旋转。

Biggart remembers being puzzled by how the boat could have survived Atlantic swells.

比格特记得他对这艘船如何在大西洋海浪中幸存感到困惑。

“A wave came, and the boat rocked so, so badly,” he recalls.

“一阵波浪袭来，船摇晃得非常非常厉害，”他回忆道。

One of the dead men sat by the bow.

其中一名死者坐在船头。

The fishermen and police wondered if he was the last to die, moving away from the rest of the dead in the bottom of the boat.

渔民和警察想知道他是否是最后一个死的，远离船底的其他死者。

Biggart and his colleague were asked by the coast guard to tow the pirogue back to shore.

海岸警卫队要求比格特和他的同事将独木舟拖回岸边。

A tractor pulled the boat out of the water.

一辆拖拉机把船从水中拉了出来。

Men in white overalls carefully removed 14 bodies, three skulls and other large bones one by one, placing the remains in 15 bags.

身穿白色工作服的男子小心翼翼地将14具尸体、三个头骨和其他大骨头一一取出，将遗骸放入15个袋子中。

Some victims were missing limbs or heads.

一些受害者失去了四肢或头部。

The sun had mummified some parts, while the salt and water at the bottom of the boat had putrified others.

太阳使一些部分变成木乃伊，而船底的盐和水则使其他部分腐烂。

Recovered from the boat were clothing, 1,000 West African CFA francs (under $2) and a few euros.

从船上起获的是衣物、1000 西非法郎（不到 2 美元）和几欧元。

Police also found half a dozen corroded cellphones with SIM cards from Mali and Mauritania.

警方还发现了六部带有来自马里和毛里塔尼亚的 SIM 卡的腐蚀手机。

Tobago’s Cyber Crime Unit extracted a contact list from one of the SIMs.

多巴哥网络犯罪部门从其中一张 SIM 卡中提取了一份联系人列表。

Police in Trinidad and Tobago passed the numbers on to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which reached out several times to the government of Mauritania.

特立尼达和多巴哥警方将这些号码转交给外交部，外交部多次联系毛里塔尼亚政府。

They never got an answer, they said.

他们说，他们从未得到答案。

Mauritania’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to phone calls or repeated requests for comment by email from the AP.

毛里塔尼亚外交部没有回复美联社的电话或通过电子邮件多次提出的置评请求。

In the weeks that followed, customers stopped buying Biggart’s fish, fearing the dead were victims of some sort of sorcery.

在接下来的几周里，顾客停止购买比格特的鱼，担心死者是某种巫术的受害者。

Others made unfounded speculations: Were they Ebola victims whose bodies had been thrown in the boat and set adrift?

还有人提出毫无根据的猜测：他们是尸体被扔进船上漂流的埃博拉受害者吗？

“I have a friend who went to sea and never came back,” he says.

“我有一个朋友出海后就再也没有回来，”他说。

“I don’t know the people and them.

– 我不认识这些人和他们。

But I know the family will be hurting.”

但我知道家人会受到伤害。”

Yet months later, unable to identify the victims, police rebranded the criminal investigation into a “humanitarian” case.

然而几个月后，由于无法确定受害者的身份，警方将刑事调查重新定位为“人道主义”案件。

The remains were kept at the morgue of the Forensic Science Center in Trinidad.

遗体保存在特立尼达法医科学中心的太平间。

A trail of clues In 20 years as a forensic pathologist, Dr. Eslyn McDonald-Burris had never seen so many bodies arrive at the local mortuary in Tobago at once.

线索线索 作为一名法医病理学家，Eslyn McDonald-Burris 博士 20 年来从未见过如此多的尸体同时到达多巴哥当地的太平间。

Their apparent African descent reminded her of her enslaved ancestors.

他们明显的非洲血统让她想起了她被奴役的祖先。

“It’s kind of emotional for me, because I’m thinking why?

——这对我来说有点情绪化，因为我在想为什么？

What is happening here?” asked the soft-spoken Burris, who has since retired.

这里发生了什么事？”说话轻声细语的伯里斯问道，他已经退休了。

“And then when I started looking at ocean currents.

– 然后当我开始观察洋流时。

...

...

It’s the same currents that they used when they brought us here.” She concluded they most likely died of “dehydration and hypothermia as a consequence of being lost at sea.”

这和他们把我们带到这里时使用的水流是一样的。”她得出结论，他们很可能死于“在海上迷路而导致的脱水和体温过低。”

Opening the body bags one by one, Burris was opening a small window into each person’s life.

伯里斯逐一打开裹尸袋，为每个人的生活打开一扇小窗。

She looked for anything to help answer questions: Who were they?

她寻找任何可以帮助回答问题的东西：他们是谁？

Where were they trying to go?

他们想去哪里？

What happened on the boat?

船上发生了什么？

One had prayer beads with a crescent and a star, Muslim symbols.

其中一个挂着带有新月和星星的念珠，这是穆斯林的象征。

Another carried in his pocket a small label with Arabic writing of a water bottle from Mauritania.

另一个人的口袋里揣着一个小标签，上面写着一个来自毛里塔尼亚的水瓶的阿拉伯文。

Yet another wore a watch on his left wrist, still running even though the time and date were wrong.

还有一个人的左手腕上戴着一块手表，尽管时间和日期都是错误的，但手表仍在走时。

“5:32 Sun,” it read.

——周日 5:32，——上面写着。

Most shared similar traits — “that sort of tall, slender look, long thin face,” Burris says.

大多数人都有相似的特征——比如高大、苗条的外表，瘦长的脸，”伯里斯说。

Many wore several layers of clothing, common for seafaring migrants.

许多人穿着多层衣服，这对于航海移民来说很常见。

A few wore dark green weather-proof jackets and pants, typically used both by fishermen in West Africa and by migrants seeking to avoid detection by port authorities.

一些人穿着深绿色的防风雨夹克和裤子，通常是西非渔民和寻求避免被港口当局发现的移民所穿。

As Burris pulled back the layers of clothing, she found soccer jerseys and shorts with the insignia of European teams as well as the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.

当伯里斯拉开衣服时，她发现了带有欧洲球队以及毛里塔尼亚伊斯兰共和国足球联合会徽章的足球球衣和短裤。

One man was dressed more formally, wearing a black button-down shirt with thin white stripes.

一名男子穿着更为正式，穿着一件带有白色细条纹的黑色系扣衬衫。

Another stood out to Burris.

另一个对伯里斯来说很突出。

“A young man of African descent, slim build, dark complexion,” her autopsy report read.

“一名非洲裔年轻人，身材苗条，肤色黝黑，”她的尸检报告上写道。

He had short, dark-brown hair.

他有一头深棕色的短发。

His ears were “notably very small." His teeth were in good condition.

他的耳朵——特别小。”他的牙齿状况良好。

His body was the most mummified of all, and his clothing was still relatively clean, suggesting he may have been one of the last to die.

他的尸体是最木乃伊化的，而且他的衣服仍然相对干净，这表明他可能是最后死去的人之一。

“Down here we say a ‘sharp boy’,” Burris said, affectionately referring to his style.

“在这里，我们称他为“敏锐的男孩”，”伯里斯深情地提到他的风格时说道。

He was found wearing distressed jeans, a Nike hoodie and a white patterned T-shirt underneath with some words on it — a lyric to a well-known Lionel Richie song.

他被发现时穿着仿旧牛仔裤、耐克连帽衫和白色图案 T 恤，里面写着一些文字——莱昂内尔·里奇 (Lionel Richie) 一首著名歌曲的歌词。

An Aunt in France Thousands of miles away, in the French city of Orléans, May Sow had all but given up hope of finding her nephew alive.

法国的姨妈 在千里之外的法国城市奥尔良，梅·索乌 (May Sow) 几乎放弃了寻找侄子还活着的希望。

It was mid-January 2021, and Alassane Sow, 30, wasn’t answering his phone, leaving his family in both Mali and France desperate.

那是 2021 年 1 月中旬，30 岁的阿拉萨内·索乌 (Alassane Sow) 没有接电话，这让他在马里和法国的家人陷入绝望。

May searched the internet for any trace of him.

梅在互联网上搜索他的踪迹。

A few days earlier, Alassane had told her over the phone that he was thinking of boarding a boat to Spain and, ultimately, to France to work, as some of his friends had done.

几天前，阿拉萨内在电话中告诉她，他正在考虑乘船前往西班牙，并最终前往法国工作，就像他的一些朋友所做的那样。

His estranged father had also left for Spain.

他分居的父亲也前往西班牙。

Smugglers charged 1,500 euros, and he had saved some money working as a security guard in Mauritania.

走私者收费1500欧元，他在毛里塔尼亚当保安攒了一些钱。

She thought it was a terrible idea.

她认为这是一个糟糕的主意。

“It’s suicide,” she warned him.

“这是自杀，”她警告他。

A family she knew from the Ivory Coast was mourning a relative who died trying to reach Europe.

她在科特迪瓦认识的一个家庭正在哀悼一位在前往欧洲途中丧生的亲戚。

Alassane said smugglers told him he would travel on a sturdy boat with a proper engine, not the flimsy overcrowded rubber boats often seen capsizing in the Mediterranean.

阿拉萨内说，走私者告诉他，他将乘坐一艘配备合适发动机的坚固船旅行，而不是经常在地中海看到的脆弱、拥挤的橡皮船。

But even if he made it, she told him, he wouldn’t be allowed to work legally in France.

但即使他成功了，她告诉他，他也不会被允许在法国合法工作。

“When I go to Paris, I see people, migrants sleeping outside, under tents,” May recalled.

“当我去巴黎时，我看到人们，移民睡在外面的帐篷下，”梅回忆道。

Alassane wouldn’t hear of it.

阿拉萨尼不会听到这个消息。

After all, his French family had a good life with stable careers that allowed them to send money back to their Mali village of Melga, to support his mother.

毕竟，他的法国家庭过着美好的生活，事业稳定，这让他们可以把钱寄回马里的梅尔加村，养活他的母亲。

Alassane’s grandparents had immigrated to France from the former colony decades ago, leaving their eldest daughter, Alassane’s mother, back in Mali.

阿拉萨内的祖父母几十年前从前殖民地移民到法国，把他们的大女儿、阿拉萨内的母亲留在了马里。

They had six more children in France, including May.

他们在法国还有六个孩子，其中包括梅。

When May and her siblings tried to bring Alassane’s mother over, she was an adult no longer eligible for family reunification.

当梅和她的兄弟姐妹试图将阿拉萨内的母亲带过来时，她已经是成年人，不再有资格获得家庭团聚。

She applied for a visa for France eight times, only to be rejected each time.

她曾八次申请法国签证，但每次都被拒绝。

The Sow family in France had tried to support Alassane in two projects back in Mali, in livestock and in commerce.

法国的索夫家族曾试图在马里的两个项目上支持阿拉萨内：畜牧业和商业。

Both ultimately failed in part because of the impact of climate change and a fragile economy in a country plagued by years of conflict and political instability.

两者最终都失败了，部分原因是气候变化的影响以及一个饱受多年冲突和政治不稳定困扰的国家经济脆弱。

The convenience store he opened with their help hardly made enough money to feed his family.

他在他们的帮助下开的便利店赚的钱几乎不够养家糊口。

He ultimately moved to Mauritania to make roughly 75 euros a month, May said.

May 表示，他最终搬到了毛里塔尼亚，每月收入约为 75 欧元。

That wasn’t enough.

这还不够。

May said the “kind, serious and respectful” young man never asked his French relatives for more money.

梅说，这位“善良、严肃、有礼貌”的年轻人从未向他的法国亲戚要更多的钱。

Prosperity was in Europe, and the only way he could afford to get there was by boat.

欧洲很繁荣，他能负担得起的唯一途径就是乘船。

“I think in his head, he thought he didn’t have a choice,” May said.

“我认为在他的脑海里，他认为自己没有选择，”梅说。

May’s nephew Alassane Sow On the night between Jan.

梅的侄子阿拉萨内·索乌 (Alassane Sow)

12 and 13, 2021, he boarded a pirogue in Nouadhibou, Mauritania, headed to Spain’s Canary Islands, his family learned later.

他的家人后来得知，2021 年 12 日至 13 日，他在毛里塔尼亚努瓦迪布登上了一艘独木舟，前往西班牙加那利群岛。

After the initial silence came rumors, including one that his boat had been stopped in Morocco and the migrants sent to prison.

最初的沉默过后，谣言四起，其中包括他的船在摩洛哥被拦截，移民被送进监狱的谣言。

May contacted a Malian community representative in Morocco to check prisons and morgues.

梅联系了驻摩洛哥的一名马里社区代表，以检查监狱和太平间。

No trace of Alassane.

没有阿拉萨尼的踪迹。

She reached out to a page on Facebook called “Protect Migrants not Borders,” used by families of missing migrants to exchange information.

她访问了 Facebook 上一个名为“保护移民而非边境”的页面，失踪移民的家人用该页面交换信息。

That was when May realized her nephew was one of thousands disappearing each year en route to Europe.

就在那时，梅意识到她的侄子是每年在前往欧洲途中失踪的数千人之一。

Every day people posted about a missing person.

每天都有人发布关于失踪人员的消息。

Few were ever found.

很少有人被发现。

Any tips she obtained were by word of mouth.

她获得的任何提示都是通过口耳相传的。

There was no official information.

没有官方信息。

She felt helpless.

她感到很无助。

Alassane’s mother, grandmother and wife held onto hope that he was alive, probably in prison somewhere, and couldn’t call.

阿拉萨内的母亲、祖母和妻子仍抱有希望，认为他还活着，可能在监狱里的某个地方，但无法打电话。

May was growing increasingly skeptical.

梅越来越怀疑。

One night, she had a dream.

一天晚上，她做了一个梦。

She saw him dead with many people in the water, and she cried out for him.

她看到他死了，还有很多人在水里，她为他哭泣。

In her nightmare, Alassane eventually opened his eyes but couldn’t speak.

在噩梦中，阿拉萨尼最终睁开了眼睛，但无法说话。

After that, she was sure they had shipwrecked.

在那之后，她确信他们已经遭遇海难了。

But she had no proof.

但她没有证据。

A few months later, her sister shared a news report about a Mauritanian boat found in Tobago with dead bodies inside.

几个月后，她的姐姐分享了一篇新闻报道，称在多巴哥发现了一艘毛里塔尼亚船只，里面有尸体。

Then an AP reporter contacted her asking about the same.

随后，美联社记者联系了她，询问了同样的问题。

Could her nephew be among those?

她的侄子会在其中吗？

He left in January.

他在一月份离开。

The boat was found in May.

这艘船于五月被发现。

But except for the time frame, there was no evidence to suggest it was his boat.

但除了时间范围外，没有任何证据表明这是他的船。

After all, the pirogues used by migrants departing Nouadhibou look the same.

毕竟，离开努瓦迪布的移民所使用的独木舟看起来都是一样的。

Following the trail The contact list extracted from one of the SIM cards on a phone in the boat by authorities in Tobago contained 137 names.

追踪踪迹 多巴哥当局从船上手机的一张 SIM 卡中提取了联系人名单，其中包含 137 个名字。

The AP went down the list calling the numbers, asking those who replied if they knew anyone missing.

美联社按名单拨打了电话号码，询问那些回复的人是否知道有人失踪。

One name kept coming up: Soulayman Soumaré, a taxi driver from Sélibaby in southern Mauritania, near the borders with Mali and Senegal.

有一个名字不断出现：苏莱曼·苏马雷 (Soulayman Soumaré)，他是毛里塔尼亚南部塞利巴比的一名出租车司机，靠近马里和塞内加尔边境。

The AP traveled to Sélibaby, a two-day drive from the fishing town of Nouadhibou on a strip of tarmac that cuts through a bleak desert, and spoke to dozens of relatives and friends to reconstruct what happened.

美联社前往塞利巴比，那里距离渔镇努瓦迪布有两天车程，位于一条穿过荒凉沙漠的停机坪上，并采访了数十名亲友，以重现所发生的事情。

Soulayman had gone missing a year earlier, along with dozens of other young men from nearby villages.

苏莱曼一年前与附近村庄的其他数十名年轻人一起失踪。

They had taken off from Nouadhibou on a boat carrying 43 people to the Canary Islands on the night of Jan.

他们于 1 月 1 日晚乘坐载有 43 人的船从努瓦迪布出发前往加那利群岛。

12, 2021.

2021 年 12 月。

It was the same boat that Alassane Sow boarded.

阿拉萨内·索夫（Alassane Sow）登上的是同一艘船。

Forty-seven people were meant to have boarded the boat originally.

原本应该有四十七人登船。

Four men never got on.

四个人始终没有上车。

One, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity, confirmed that he and dozens of other relatives, friends and acquaintances from Sélibaby and two nearby villages had traveled to Nouadhibou.

一位不愿透露姓名的人士向美联社证实，他和其他数十名来自塞利巴比和附近两个村庄的亲戚、朋友和熟人曾前往努瓦迪布。

There, they waited in apartments arranged by smugglers.

在那里，他们在走私者安排的公寓里等待。

He heard more people from a town on the border of Mali and Mauritania would also be getting on the boat.

他听说来自马里和毛里塔尼亚边境的一个城镇的更多人也会上船。

Finally, on Jan.

终于，在一月。

12, the smugglers called.

12日，走私犯打来电话。

They would be leaving for Spain that night.

那天晚上他们将启程前往西班牙。

To avoid attracting authorities’ attention, the migrants split into smaller groups and left separately on different pirogues.

为了避免引起当局的注意，移民分成较小的群体，分别乘坐不同的独木舟离开。

They were to meet in the ocean and all transfer to a larger pirogue bound for the Canaries.

他们将在海上相遇，然后全部转移到一艘更大的独木舟上，开往加那利群岛。

In Nouadhibou, hundreds of fishermen zip in and out all day and night, and port authorities struggle to inspect every boat for migrants.

在努瓦迪布，数百名渔民日夜不停地进出，港口当局努力检查每艘船只是否有移民。

But when they saw four men allegedly going fishing without the typical dark green overalls, police stopped them.

但当他们看到四名男子据称没有穿着典型的深绿色工作服去钓鱼时，警察拦住了他们。

Families, still waiting Just as few people in Tobago had ever heard of Mauritania before, families in Mauritania had never heard of Tobago.

仍在等待的家庭 正如多巴哥很少有人听说过毛里塔尼亚一样，毛里塔尼亚的家庭也从未听说过多巴哥。

When shown the island on a map, with the Atlantic Ocean separating both nations, many gasped.

当地图上显示这个岛屿时，大西洋将两国分隔开来，许多人都倒吸一口冷气。

A few miles away from Sélibaby, on a dirt road dotted with goats, lies the village of Bouroudji, home to 11 of the missing young men.

距离塞利巴比几英里的布鲁吉村坐落在一条布满山羊的土路上，这里是 11 名失踪年轻人的家。

AP reporters shared the available information with their mothers: A Mauritanian boat had drifted to Tobago with 14 bodies.

美联社记者向她们的母亲分享了现有信息：一艘载有14具尸体的毛里塔尼亚船只漂流至多巴哥。

One phone retrieved from the boat was linked to the group their sons had traveled with.

从船上取回的一部手机与他们儿子所乘坐的团体有联系。

There were no known survivors.

没有已知的幸存者。

“They’re all dead,” one mother exclaimed.

“他们都死了，”一位母亲惊呼道。

She covered her face with her hands and left in despair.

她双手捂住脸，绝望地离开了。

Others hung onto hope.

其他人则抱有希望。

Until they saw their sons’ bodies, the mothers said, they could still be alive.

母亲们说，在看到儿子的尸体之前，她们可能还活着。

They pulled out their cellphones and shared photos of their sons with AP.

他们拿出手机，与美联社分享了儿子的照片。

Among them were two young men named Bayla Niang and Abdoulaye Tall.

其中有两名年轻人，名叫贝拉·尼昂（Bayla Niang）和阿卜杜拉耶·塔尔（Abdoulaye Tall）。

Niang’s father, 71-year-old Ciré Samba Niang, said they were desperate for any information.

Niang 71 岁的父亲 Ciré Samba Niang 表示，他们迫切需要任何信息。

“There’s people who say they’ve died.

– 有人说他们已经死了。

There are people who say they are in prison,” he said.

有人说他们在监狱里，”他说。

“There are others who say, nonsense.”

“还有人说，胡说八道。”

Niang said he wasn’t aware of his son’s plans.

尼昂说，他不知道儿子的计划。

He blamed local unemployment along with better opportunities abroad.

他将原因归咎于当地失业以及国外更好的机会。

Many in his generation had also moved to Europe and made good money for Mauritanian standards.

他这一代的许多人也移居欧洲，并按照毛里塔尼亚的标准赚了很多钱。

“If one goes to Europe, in one or two years they’ll be able to build a house (in Mauritania), to buy a car,” Niang said.

“如果一个人去欧洲，在一两年内他们将能够建造一栋房子（在毛里塔尼亚），购买一辆汽车，”尼昂说。

“The other person sees that and says, ‘I can’t stay here.

” 另一个人看到后说：“我不能留在这里。

I have to go, too.’”

我也得走了。”

Clockwise starting from the top left: Houdou Soumaré, Cheikh Dioum, Houdou and Soulayman with Djibi Koumé, Soulayman Soumaré.

从左上角开始顺时针方向：Houdou Soumaré、Cheikh Dioum、Houdou 和 Soulayman 以及 Djibi Koumé、Soulayman Soumaré。

Images courtesy of the families.

图片由家属提供。

In the nearby village of Moudji, the parents of Soulayman Soumaré and his cousins Houdou Soumaré and Djibi Koumé, who had also disappeared, struggled to get on with their lives.

在附近的穆德吉村，苏莱曼·苏马雷的父母以及他同样失踪的表兄弟胡杜·苏马雷和吉比·库梅艰难地维持着自己的生活。

One mother was severely depressed and suffering from panic attacks, the villagers said.

村民们说，一位母亲患有严重的抑郁症和恐慌症。

“You cannot even talk because everyone is so upset,” said Oumar Koumé, the father of Djibi Koumé.

“你甚至无法说话，因为每个人都很沮丧，”吉比·库梅的父亲奥马尔·库梅说道。

Like the mothers of Bouroudji, Koumé asked to see the bodies found in the boat that reached Tobago.

和布鲁吉的母亲一样，库梅要求查看在抵达多巴哥的船上发现的尸体。

“If you see someone is dead in front of you, you know it is done.

– 如果您看到某人死在您面前，您就知道一切都结束了。

But if you don’t see it, every day there are rumors,” he said.

但如果你没有看到，每天都会有谣言，”他说。

“Your heart aches.”

“你的心很痛。”

Adama Sarré is a 46-year-old nurse and single mother.

阿达玛·萨雷 (Adama Sarrré) 是一位 46 岁的护士和单身母亲。

Her 25-year-old son, Cheikh Dioum, is among those who disappeared.

她 25 岁的儿子谢赫·迪乌姆 (Cheikh Dioum) 也是失踪者之一。

An introvert, Dioum would sometimes stay in his room for days, his mother said.

他的母亲说，迪乌姆性格内向，有时会在自己的房间里呆上好几天。

He was upset, frustrated.

他很沮丧，很沮丧。

He had repeatedly asked her for money to travel to Europe.

他曾多次向她要钱去欧洲旅行。

But on her meager nurse’s salary, she had little to give him.

但凭借护士微薄的薪水，她几乎没有什么可以给他的。

She advised patience.

她建议耐心等待。

She recalled telling him: “Cheikh, go slowly, go slowly.

她记得她告诉他：“谢赫，慢点，慢点。”

If I work and find money, I will get you a plane ticket and you will go.”

如果我工作赚到了钱，我会给你一张机票，然后你就可以走了。”

Dioum thought she was lying, she said.

她说，迪乌姆认为她在撒谎。

He left without saying goodbye.

他没有说再见就走了。

“I call his phone, it doesn’t work,” she said.

“我拨打了他的电话，但打不通，”她说。

“I’m just sitting here.”

“我只是坐在这里。”

A Survivor’s Account We may never know what happened to the men as they drifted from Nouadhibou to Tobago.

幸存者的叙述 我们可能永远不知道这些人从努瓦迪布漂流到多巴哥时发生了什么。

But accounts from survivors of other shipwrecks in the Atlantic offer a clue.

但大西洋其他沉船事故幸存者的叙述提供了线索。

Moussa Sako was rescued by the Spanish Air Force on April 26, 2021.

穆萨·萨科于 2021 年 4 月 26 日被西班牙空军营救。

Their boat was spotted by chance more than 310 miles (500km) from the Spanish island of El Hierro — “in the middle of nowhere,” as one of the rescuers described it.

他们的船是在距西班牙耶罗岛 310 多英里（500 公里）处偶然发现的——正如一位救援人员所描述的那样，“在一个偏僻的地方”。

They had set off 22 days earlier from Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania.

他们于22天前从毛里塔尼亚首都努瓦克肖特出发。

Only three of 63 people who boarded survived.

登机的 63 人中只有 3 人幸存。

Like many on the boat, Sako, an asylum-seeker from Mali, had never seen the ocean.

和船上的许多人一样，来自马里的寻求庇护者萨科从未见过大海。

Four men with maritime experience, including a Senegalese “captain,” were in charge of reaching the Canaries.

四名具有航海经验的男子负责抵达加那利群岛，其中包括一名塞内加尔“船长”。

The voyage was to take four to five days.

航程需要四到五天。

They were packed like sardines, with Sako squeezed in the middle.

它们像沙丁鱼一样挤在一起，佐科挤在中间。

The leaking gasoline and salt water in the bottom of the boat burnt their skin, making it painful to sit.

船底泄漏的汽油和盐水灼伤了他们的皮肤，坐起来很痛苦。

Not long after departing, they ran out of food and water.

出发后不久，他们就耗尽了食物和水。

On the fourth day they ran out of fuel.

第四天，他们的燃料耗尽了。

To slow down their drift and be more visible to rescuers, they made a makeshift anchor by tying the engine and other heavy metal scraps to a rope.

为了减缓漂流速度并让救援人员更容易看到，他们将发动机和其他重金属碎片绑在绳子上，制作了一个临时锚。

With each day that passed, the boat drifted further.

日子一天天过去，船越漂越远。

Tensions boiled into arguments.

紧张局势升级为争吵。

The smugglers, some said, had betrayed them.

有人说，走私者背叛了他们。

More days passed.

又过去了几天。

No rescue came.

没有救援到来。

A growing number of people wanted to cut the rope loose to drift faster.

越来越多的人想把绳子松开，以便漂得更快。

Sako thought they would be better off staying still, where the sea was still calm and they could see some lights at night.

萨科认为他们最好还是保持安静，因为海面仍然平静，晚上他们可以看到一些灯光。

But Sako was defeated in a vote.

但萨科在投票中落败。

The rope was snipped.

绳子被剪断了。

Just as he feared, the wind took them to more agitated waters that poured over their boat.

正如他担心的那样，风把他们带到了更加汹涌的水域，淹没了他们的船。

The next evening the first person died, a 20-year-old man.

第二天晚上，第一个人死亡，是一名 20 岁的男子。

They washed and wrapped his body in Islamic tradition and prayed before throwing it overboard.

他们按照伊斯兰传统清洗并包裹了他的尸体，并在将其扔下海之前进行了祈祷。

By the second week, three to four people were dying every day.

到了第二周，每天都有三到四个人死亡。

Some had hallucinations.

有些人出现了幻觉。

One man jumped to his death thinking they had arrived.

一名男子以为他们已经到达，跳楼身亡。

Others jumped to end their suffering.

其他人跳下以结束他们的痛苦。

Sako, the healthiest, tried to help the others.

萨科是最健康的一个，他试图帮助其他人。

“I had four full (layers of clothes) on me,” he recalled.

“我身上穿了四件衣服，”他回忆道。

“I would take one off and put it on them ...

– 我会脱下一件并穿上......

until I had only one.”

直到我只剩下一个。 –

On day 18, he tried to get away from the rotting bodies.

第18天，他试图逃离腐烂的尸体。

But they were everywhere.

但它们无处不在。

Only a handful of people were still alive.

只有少数人还活着。

They hardly spoke.

他们几乎不说话。

Sako no longer feared death.

萨科不再害怕死亡。

He did worry about what would happen afterward.

他确实担心接下来会发生什么。

“I wanted that even if I died, for people to recover (my body) and bury me,” Sako said.

“我希望即使我死了，人们也能找到（我的尸体）并埋葬我，”萨科说。

“If you disappear in the water, they can look for you for a hundred years.”

“如果你消失在水中，他们可以寻找你一百年。”

Finally, on day 22, a grey plane appeared in the sky above.

终于，在第22天，天空中出现了一架灰色的飞机。

Then came a helicopter.

然后来了一架直升机。

A rescuer dropped down and pulled Sako and the other two survivors from the corpse-ridden pirogue.

一名救援人员跳下水，将萨科和另外两名幸存者从满是尸体的独木船上救了出来。

The bodies of 24 people were recovered and buried in the Canaries with case numbers instead of names.

24 具尸体被发现并埋在加那利群岛，上面标有病例编号，而不是姓名。

The remains of the other 36 were swallowed by the Atlantic.

另外 36 艘的遗骸被大西洋吞没。

(Partial) Answers The number of people attempting the Atlantic crossing to the Canaries is falling again as Spain and the EU, with help from their African partners, try to close that migration route in a constant cat-and-mouse game.

（部分）答案 由于西班牙和欧盟在非洲伙伴的帮助下，试图在一场持续的猫捉老鼠游戏中关闭这条移民路线，试图穿越大西洋前往加那利群岛的人数再次下降。

But the reasons pushing these men, women and children to go — a lack of jobs, poverty, violence, climate change — have only gotten worse.

但推动这些男人、女人和儿童离开的原因——缺乏工作、贫困、暴力、气候变化——只会变得更糟。

One year after the 43 men departed Nouadhibou, the white-and-blue boat sat abandoned on the side of the road in Belle Garden, much like the case itself.

43 人离开努瓦迪布一年后，这艘蓝白相间的船被遗弃在贝尔花园的路边，就像案件本身一样。

The clothing, objects and cellphones recovered from the boat and the bodies had been kept in the back of the Scarborough police station in Tobago.

从船上找到的衣服、物品和手机以及尸体都保存在多巴哥斯卡伯勒警察局的后面。

Even though it had been cleared for disposal, the officer in charge of storing police evidence had decided to hold onto the items “in case someone came looking for this some day.”

尽管这些物品已获准处置，但负责存储警方证据的警官还是决定保留这些物品，以防有一天有人来找它。”

With latex gloves, the officer and an AP reporter cut open the sealed bags, pulling out the decaying evidence on the concrete floor to be documented.

戴着乳胶手套，警官和美联社记者切开密封袋，取出混凝土地板上腐烂的证据进行记录。

There were the dirty soccer jerseys and shorts of Juventus, Paris St-Germain, Barcelona, Real Madrid and The Football Federation of Mauritania that Burris had noted in her autopsy reports.

伯里斯在尸检报告中指出，尤文图斯、巴黎圣日耳曼、巴塞罗那、皇家马德里和毛里塔尼亚足协的脏球衣和短裤。

There were the dark green weatherproof coats and pants so many migrants wear during the crossing.

许多移民在过境时都穿着深绿色的防风雨外套和裤子。

There were the cellphones, so worn out that the devices fell apart at the slightest touch.

还有手机，磨损得很厉害，稍微一碰就会散架。

After days analyzing photos of the evidence like a puzzle, one T-shirt seemed familiar.

经过几天像拼图一样分析证据照片后，一件 T 恤看起来很熟悉。

In a photo shared by one of the mothers from the Mauritanian village of Bourdouji, 20-year-old Abdoulaye Tall is seen wearing a colorful T-shirt with words on it, but only parts of it were visible: “IS IT ...

在毛里塔尼亚布尔杜吉村的一位母亲分享的一张照片中，20 岁的阿卜杜拉耶·塔尔 (Abdoulaye Tall) 穿着一件彩色 T 恤，上面写着文字，但只能看到一部分：“是吗……”

E ...

埃...

YOU’RE.”

你就是。”

Suddenly, it came into focus.

突然，它成为了焦点。

He was wearing the shirt that had struck Dr. Burris: “HELLO, IS IT ME YOU’RE LOOKING FOR?”

他穿着的衬衫让伯里斯博士印象深刻：“你好，你要找的是我吗？”

The AP shared its finding, along with photos of the T-shirt, with Tall’s father.

美联社与塔尔的父亲分享了这一发现以及 T 恤的照片。

He said he was grateful for the information, even though it shattered his hopes.

他说他很感激这些信息，尽管它粉碎了他的希望。

“It’s obvious he’s dead,” Djibi Tall said.

“很明显他已经死了，”吉比·塔尔说。

“It’s God’s will.”

“这是上帝的旨意。”

The AP also shared photos of the evidence collected in Tobago with other families of the missing in Mauritania, Mali, Senegal and France.

美联社还与毛里塔尼亚、马里、塞内加尔和法国的其他失踪者家属分享了在多巴哥收集的证据照片。

May Sow, the aunt in France, stared at the photos on her phone for days and stayed up late at night.

法国阿姨May Sow连续几天盯着手机里的照片，熬夜。

One photo looked familiar: a black striped button-down shirt.

其中一张照片看起来很熟悉：一件黑色条纹纽扣衬衫。

She went back to photos of her nephew from shortly before he disappeared.

她回顾了她侄子失踪前不久的照片。

There it was — the same black striped shirt.

就在那里——同样的黑色条纹衬衫。

He wore it on special occasions.

他在特殊场合穿着它。

“I don’t think they had the right to bring things with them, so he must have worn his best clothes,” she said.

“我认为他们没有权利随身携带东西，所以他一定穿了最好的衣服，”她说。

She reached out to one of Alassane’s friends in Mauritania who had accompanied him on the first part of the journey to the boat.

她联系了阿拉萨内在毛里塔尼亚的一位朋友，他在上船的第一段旅程中陪伴着他。

He confirmed that Alassane had worn the striped shirt underneath a jacket with red pockets.

他证实阿拉萨内将条纹衬衫穿在有红色口袋的夹克里面。

Both were found on one of the bodies.

两者均在其中一具尸体上被发现。

May Sow was already mourning the loss of her nephew, but her sister was still in denial.

May Sow 已经在哀悼失去侄子了，但她的姐姐仍然否认。

Sow reached out to the Red Cross in Senegal for help with a DNA test to confirm.

Sow向塞内加尔红十字会寻求帮助，进行DNA测试来确认。

But because Alassane’s mother was from Mali, they couldn’t help.

但由于阿拉萨内的母亲来自马里，他们无能为力。

So in late June, the AP got a saliva sample sent from Alassane’s mother to the Forensics Science Center in Trinidad and Tobago.

因此，六月下旬，美联社收到了阿拉萨内母亲送到特立尼达和多巴哥法医科学中心的唾液样本。

Three months later, on Oct.

三个月后，十月一日。

4, 2022, an email arrived in May Sow’s inbox.

2022 年 12 月 4 日，一封电子邮件到达 May Sow 的收件箱。

“I regret to inform that the DNA sample result is a positive match.”

– 很遗憾地通知您，DNA 样本结果呈阳性匹配。 –

Epilogue Alassane was buried after an Islamic funeral on March 3, 2023, at the Chaguanas Public Cemetery in Trinidad and Tobago.

结语 阿拉萨内于 2023 年 3 月 3 日在特立尼达和多巴哥的查瓜纳斯公共公墓举行伊斯兰葬礼后被安葬。

His family, unable to travel, held prayers in both his hometown in Mali and in France.

由于无法出行，他的家人在他的家乡马里和法国举行了祈祷。

Of the 43 people believed to have boarded Alassane’s boat, only 14 bodies and skeletal remains were found in Tobago.

据信登上阿拉萨内船的 43 人中，在多巴哥只发现了 14 具尸体和骨骼残骸。

The Red Cross has collected 51 DNA samples from family members of 26 missing migrants in hopes of identifying the other bodies at the Forensic Science Center in Trinidad.

红十字会已从 26 名失踪移民的家人那里收集了 51 份 DNA 样本，希望能在特立尼达法医科学中心辨认其他尸体的身份。

Those results aren’t yet known.

这些结果尚不清楚。

Some things are, in the end, unknowable.

有些事，终究是不可知的。

It’s possible — probable, even — that the world will never learn what exactly happened during the 135 days and nights that Alassane and the others spent adrift in the Atlantic.

世界可能永远不会知道阿拉萨内和其他人在大西洋漂流的 135 个日日夜夜到底发生了什么。

“At least, for my nephew, we have proof that it is him,” she said.

“至少，对于我的侄子来说，我们有证据证明那就是他，”她说。

“We can pray for him and believe that he is in a good place.”

“我们可以为他祈祷，并相信他处于一个好的境地。”